


in the place of you and me

by absopositivelutely



Category: RWBY
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/F, Light Angst, Missing Scene, Pining, Volume 8 (RWBY), lesbianism means yearning babey, like a lot of pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-15 04:33:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28682598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/absopositivelutely/pseuds/absopositivelutely
Summary: “What would you do,” Ruby says, “if you knew this was our last day here?”//(or; ruby and weiss, in schnee manor, waiting for everything to fall apart.)
Relationships: Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee
Comments: 7
Kudos: 102





	in the place of you and me

**Author's Note:**

> hello i am coping with the hiatus and going feral over whiterose once again! this takes place when ruby & co are at schnee manor after bringing nora there. i,, don't actually know how long it's been since the volume started so ruby says "a couple of days" but i'm honestly unsure if they've even slept since the last episode of v7. pls crwby let them Rest. anyways. if i had a nickel for every time i titled a whiterose fic after a harry styles lyric, i would have two nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it happened twice. that's fine! hope you enjoy! <3

* * *

we’re not who we used to be

we’re just two ghosts standing in the place of you and me

trying to remember how it feels to have a heartbeat

— _two ghosts,_ harry styles

* * *

Ruby knows Weiss’s room in Atlas is big. She remembers Weiss complaining back at Beacon that their room was too small for one person, much less for four of them; she’d been afraid to voice her thoughts then, that their room in Beacon was everything she’d ever wanted. It makes more sense, now that she’s here in the room Weiss grew up in. Ruby’s always thought Weiss’s presence was something the whole world should notice, but Schnee Manor has a way of making her look small, the way Ruby sometimes feels around her.

“Hey, you okay, Weiss?” Blake says. Something in Ruby’s stomach twists. She isn’t really sure why. Maybe it’s because in another time, it would’ve been her asking. Lately, she can’t quite seem to tell Weiss what she’s thinking. 

“Fine,” Weiss says, arms crossed, eyes down. Ruby still knows her well enough to know she doesn’t mean it. 

“Do you maybe, possibly, want to go show me where the kitchen is?” Ruby asks lightly. “If you’re okay with staying here, Blake.”

Blake nods, meeting Ruby’s gaze. There’s a sort of understanding that passes between them, Ruby thinks. “Yeah, I’m good. Go ahead.”

“Let us know if Yang answers,” Ruby says, noticing Blake’s scroll in her hand. “And if May comes back in, tell her we’re finding food.”

“When are you _not_ hungry,” Weiss mutters. There’s no heat behind her words. Ruby almost wishes there was.

“Don’t worry about it,” Ruby says easily, and makes a split-second decision. She loops her arm around Weiss’s and pulls her out of the room. Weiss’s muscles tense, for a second, and Ruby worries she’s overstepped. Instead, Weiss lets out a long breath and leans her head against Ruby’s shoulder, just for a second.

“Thanks,” Weiss says, so quiet Ruby isn’t even sure if she heard her, and then pulls away to lead Ruby down the hall. 

Weiss was made for the moonlight, Ruby thinks. It catches on the planes of her cheeks, white hair lit silver. Ruby trails behind her as they move through the empty hallways and she stops for a second to watch Weiss, framed in the archway of a window that stretches from the floor to the ceiling. She thinks about telling Weiss what she’s thinking, but she knows she’d never say it. There was a time, once, where she might have; she remembers racing after Weiss in a train heading to Argus and thinking that things were starting to get better, after all. 

“Ruby?” Weiss says, cutting into Ruby’s thoughts. She realizes she’s stopped walking entirely. Weiss is looking at her, expression careful but open. “Is everything alright?”

Ruby glances out the window, towards the horizon where Salem is waiting, where her sister and her friends are lost, or—she can’t think about the alternative. It occurs to her she doesn’t have much left to lose. “I should be asking you that,” she counters. “It’s been—it’s been a long couple of days, Weiss.”

Weiss blinks, looks around. She looks like she’s about to say something but she lets out a long breath instead. Her eyes meet Ruby’s and her jaw is set, the way it always is when she makes a decision. Ruby wonders how well Weiss can read her, if she knows this much about Weiss. 

Weiss crosses the distance between them in quick strides, back straight, carrying herself like a proper heiress. Then she pulls Ruby into a hug, fierce and sure. Ruby buries her head into Weiss’s shoulder and breathes in, once, twice. “You’re allowed to tell me things, you know,” Ruby mumbles into the deep blue cloth of Weiss’s sleeve. “You used to,” she adds, trying not to make it sound like an accusation. She isn’t sure if she succeeds.

“ _Ruby,_ ” Weiss whispers, voice cracking in Ruby’s ear. “I—Ruby.”

“You arrested your father and we didn’t even talk about it,” Ruby says, everything spilling out too easily. “And—and it sounds like Salem killed—like Salem was there when my mom died and you’re always the person who I want to talk to when I need it but we haven’t had time and even if we did I don’t know if I would’ve, and my sister is gone somewhere and your sister is kind of on our side but not really, and we’re in your house that you tried so hard to leave and this can’t be easy for you, and—”

“Ruby,” Weiss repeats, quieter. It feels like there’s more weight to it, somehow. “I’m sorry,” she murmurs, and the words sound like they are fighting to claw their way out of her throat but they are there nonetheless. 

Ruby pulls away from Weiss’s shoulder so she can look at Weiss. Lately it feels like Weiss is never looking back, like whenever she turns towards her best friend it feels like she is stealing a glance she shouldn’t be taking. Weiss is watching her, now, blue eyes bright in the darkness of the empty hallway. The manor is big but suddenly it feels like every wall is pressing in on them, just Ruby and Weiss existing in time and space. 

She could kiss her, Ruby thinks.

“What would you do,” Ruby says, instead, “if you knew this was our last day here?”

“In Atlas, or on Remnant?” Weiss asks. Ruby shrugs. It doesn’t matter and they both know it. Salem is here and they’re trying to do something but there is a quiet voice in the back of Ruby’s head that says that nothing they can do will be enough. She’ll never say it out loud but she thinks everyone else must hear the same thing.

Weiss takes a deep breath and steps back, hands sliding from Ruby’s shoulders down to her wrists, her fingertips, not letting go. “I would go find Yang, and Ren, and Jaune,” she starts. “And…and Penny.”

There’s something in her voice when she says Penny’s name. Ruby can’t quite tell what it is, but guilt twists in the pit of her stomach. She doesn’t know why. “Thank you,” she says softly, instead. “And?”

“And we’ll go down fighting,” Weiss says. That isn’t even a question. Ruby knows that when it comes down to it, her friends will come together in the end.

“That’s it?” Ruby asks, and her real question sounds poorly hidden even to her. Weiss’s hands tighten around hers. 

“What would _you_ do?” Weiss answers. Ruby drops her gaze, throat tight. She wants to tell her but this is the most she’s spoken to Weiss in a long time and if it _is_ their last day, she doesn’t want to ruin it. 

“I would tell you all that I love all of you,” Ruby says, slowly, watching Weiss carefully. She wonders if Weiss can hear what goes unsaid. “And then I would plan one last team RWBY attack.”

“One more Ice Flower before we go?” Weiss says, smiling despite it all. For some reason it’s this that makes Ruby crack, and she blinks back sudden tears.

“Yeah,” Ruby whispers. “If I had to go, I’d go with you.”

Weiss nods, biting her lip. Ruby wants—

She just. _Wants._

“I hope it isn’t our last day, then,” Weiss murmurs. “I think there’s more I’d want to say, later.”

Ruby swallows, lets go of Weiss’s hands. She doesn’t _really_ believe in religion but right now she prays, desperately, that they’ll have more time. “Yeah,” she says, “me too.”

**Author's Note:**

> kudos and comments always appreciated :) 
> 
> find me on [tumblr](https://qwowo.tumblr.com/)!


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